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Friday, May 3, 2013

Stress Week Wrap Up: Easier Said Than Done

I can hardly believe our Stress Week has come to an end. Too bad stress never comes to an end! As a matter of fact, I had a post all planned about finding humor and faith during stressful times.

However, what better way to end Stress Week than a real-life stressful situation that actually happened TODAY!

I lost my ATM card! I used it two days ago and I always put it right back in my wallet. It was not there today as I needed to get more cash (side note: China is primarily a cash country). My heart began to race. My mind immediately kept wanting to go to the worst case scenario. . . all of our money gone!

The first thing my body wanted to do was to find a piece of candy. I wanted something to calm me, give me a sense of security and reassurance that everything was eventually going to be okay. Can food really do all that? No, but our mind tricks us into thinking it can. I ate a caramel calcium chew instead (side note: they are so good for a sweet tooth and we all need calcium anyway).

The second thing I wanted to do was to pray. (See, I snuck faith in there anyway:) I prayed that if Hubby did not have my card, which I was waiting for a return text, I was willing to accept the lesson Heavenly Father was needing to teach me. I also prayed that I could find the patience and knowledge of how to solve this problem in the most efficient way possible.

Hubby texted back that he did not have my card. I was surprised that it was clear what I needed to do. Prayer Works! I usually panic and look for reinforcements. You see, I have low self-esteem when it comes to solving "business-like" problems, but this time I knew that I needed to walk to the bank right then. Once there I would check to see if my withdrawal was the last transaction, cancel the card and order a new one and withdraw money for the week.

As I walked there I was trying to think of the bright side of things like maybe someone put money into my account, instead of taking money out. I also thought Well, at least I get an unexpected 45 minutes of walking added to my exercise today.

I love our HSBC branch. It is really nice and I felt pretty calm until the guy told me that two transactions took place yesterday. I had already told him I hadn't used the card yesterday, but the day before. My heart dropped and I thought Oh no, how much? Hubby is going to kill me! After about three minutes of this, the guy realized that because Wednesday was a holiday the transactions were dated yesterday. What a relief! Everything else went rather smoothly, although I panicked and did not take out enough cash so I need to go back tomorrow, since the new ATM card will take 7-10 days to arrive.

Everything I had thought about this week, on this blog, ran through my mind during my stress today. I realized it is so much easier said than done! If I would've found out the card was missing first thing this morning, I would've skipped the gym for sure. I would've wanted to get a jump on solving the problem to end the stressful feelings. I almost succumbed to emotional eating, as it was my very first instinct. But the things that helped me through were my faith that there was a purpose to this situation, avoiding the worst case scenario and telling myself that everything would be okay eventually. Also, I know that because I've been eating healthy and exercise regularly, it helped me to avoid a complete melt-down...which I've been known to have had before.

Have you had a stressful situation where you handled it a lot better than expected? Do share!